Women on the Move
A savings and loan project in Niger is empowering women to realize their economic potential

by Lynn Heinisch, Press Officer

A Mata Masu Dubara member shows off the goats she purchased with her savings. All photos by: Josh Estey. All photos © CARE.

DOSSO, Niger  -- The women's pride is contagious. With a beaming face, one says, "Come see my goat." You follow her, winding down a dirt path between adobe houses, until she turns into a courtyard, rounds a grain storage unit and -- voila! -- there stands the prized animal. Secured by a rope around his leg, he seems oblivious to the gathering crowd, as he single-mindedly chews the grain in front of him.

Another eager woman leads you into her one-room house to show off the bags of corn, millet and black-eyed peas that she is selling. As she talks about her accomplishment, people gather outside her door, blocking the light. An elderly man pushes his way through to buy a bowl of corn from the woman, a widow with five children.

A widow is able to provide for herself and her children by using her savings to become a grain merchant.

Nearby, her neighbor unfolds the embroidered linens and dresses she sells. Another describes her growing livestock business, which she is expanding from goats to include cows.

These are Niger's "Women on the Move." In their Hausa language, they are the "Mata Masu Dubara." There are more than 130,000 of these "women on the move," who have participated in a 10-year-old CARE savings and loan program aimed at women. Collectively, the project participants save the equivalent of more than $1 million each year -- money that they put toward anything from the basics like paying for their children's education and health care, to building a better future by starting up small businesses.

The program's success stems largely from its simplicity. It costs very little to implement, and can be replicated easily. Women in a village create a fund through weekly contributions -- in some cases, as little as 15 cents a week. Members can take out loans, which they repay at a low interest rate. At the end of the year, they equally divide the money generated by the interest and start over.

Mata Masu Dubara is modeled on traditional Nigerien savings systems, and has been used in other African countries, as well as in Latin America. But the impact of Mata Masu Dubara is especially significant in poverty-stricken Niger.

Niger is last on the United Nation's Human Poverty Index, which ranks countries according to a number of indicators, including the percentage of people expected to die before the age of 40, literacy, access to safe water and health services, and child malnutrition.

The average Nigerien lives just 47 years. In 1999, per capita income was less than $150. All but a small percentage of Nigeriens live on less than 40 cents a day, and most in rural areas live on less than that. Less than one percent of rural women can read and write. These are the women of Mata Masu Dubara.

The women of Mata Masu Dubara celebrate their success with song and dance.

Perhaps that's one reason why in the village of Nassaraoua, hundreds of people turned out for a February ceremony celebrating the fact that 140 women had completed the Mata Masu Dubara training. These women will continue to run the groups on their own. Government officials spoke, a CARE representative praised their accomplishment, a troupe of girls sang, drummers pounded out a beat as the women danced, and all shared platters of rice and stew. The festivities stretched on for hours.

Among the graduates is 33-year-old Haoua Rabiou, a mother of six. Rabiou sells homemade sauce and rice. Through her group experience, she saved enough money to buy a goat, a cow, and clothes for her children and herself.

Meanwhile, Jiko Attanin, 25, grows cabbage, and makes and sells peanut oil and beignets. She used credit to buy flour. Her eyes light up when describing her future plans. She intends to save enough money to buy and sell pagnes, the brightly colored cotton wraps women wear here.

The material benefits of the project are obvious. But the resulting camaraderie and self-esteem -- equally obvious -- may be more important. CARE staffers use the word "empowerment" when talking about the program. Several participating women described a sense of esprit. But the woman with the goat puts it most simply, and most eloquently.